To me, this movie is perfection.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Now I'm thinking of how to rank this film, underrated? or just deserves its lukewarm greeting when first came into theaters in 1999. Director Franco Zeffirelli (Brother Sun, Sister Moon 1972) was at his twilight time when shot this film (he was 76 then), which undeniably means there is scare chance that any director could launch another career apex (late bloomers are not included). Firstly for any film aficionados, the vintage cast consists of Cher, Maggie, Judi, Joan and Lily has an irresistible allure which only indicates that it will not dash my hope of an enchanting 2-hour stretch. The film gets Cher plays herself, divine and vulnerable at the same time, although I don't buy it when she would make such a rash and unexplained mistake in the latter story, maybe Paolo Seganti is too hot to resist (who knows, he is killingly delicious here). My favorite performance here is Dame Maggie Smith, whose acute spinster character is again fun to watch, alongside her old confidante Dame Judi Dench, a more vivacious image as Arabella, the art guardian. Joan Plowright's part is a heartrending one and Lily Tomlin's lesbian fashion could never be better for her. After all, this is a biographic story of Zeffirelli himself and our protagonist is Luca, whose adolescent ceremony co-occurs with WWII, which profoundly affects those expatriate ladies. This is a substantially feel-good film, and I must say I did enjoy the film, Zeffirelli failed to keep the balance to not reveal his conspicuous contrivances of bolstering the emotional momentum, so it leaves me some artificial impulse to discern some biased point-of-view about British chauvinism and American flattery, anyway, nothing to do with Italians, eventually.

If you like 1) Nostalgia, 2) great acting, 3)loving period detail and 4)lavish location shooting then you can't not like this wallow in pre-war sentiment. If, on the other hand, you go wild, simple wild, for Multiplex fodder then you'll seriously wonder what is the point, in any, of this subtle, graceful charmer. No one is going to be bowled over to discover that Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith are great actresses but many of us may have dismissed Lily Tomlin and Cher as lightweights before this. Judi Dench's husband, the late Michael Williams contributes one of his rare - and never less than excellent - screen performances as the English consul and Franco Zeffirelli directs this semi-autobiographical account of his early years with a sure touch. The film is something of a contradiction in terms in that despite the rise of fascism, the outbreak of war and it's conclusion, not much happens; by that I mean that the movie is more interested in the small group of expats and the small, motherless boy, who plays a role in all their lives than the World stage. Can't really be praised enough.

Miss Maggie Smith,Miss Judi Dench,Miss Joan Plowright.Those names will tell you all you need to know about "Tea with Mussolini".Followed by Cher and Miss Lily Tomlin,they comprise a sorority of scenery - chewers. After a restrained and rather charming start the movie goes alarmingly out of control as the above - named ladies go into their respective overfamiliar acts.A winsome child turns into a graceless adolescent,all the Italian characters are Opera Buffa creations that surely the director could not have meant us to have taken seriously. I presume Signor Zefferelli had a culturally - enriching childhood under the care of an English lady of independent means with a circle of lovable eccentric expats surrounding him.I feel they have been ill - served. In 1935 Italy briefly flourished under a relatively benign form of Fascism.Benito Mussolini its charismatic dictator turned further towards Nazism and clean streets and a regular rail service did not compensate for shrinking freedom and internment of foreigners and Jews. Interfering at every level of Florentine society but understanding none of it,the elderly English viragoes were tolerated at first but as the German ideal grew stronger Il Duce washed his hands of them and they were hustled out of the city into a none - too - arduous exile in the country.Out of this thin material Signor Zefferelli has spun "Tea with Mussolini".Unfortunately it has turned out to be rather like a "Carry on Merchant - Ivory ",only lacking a wan performance from Helena Bonham -Carter to make it complete. Only Signor Zefferelli knows how much of his movie is based on real events.Surely the scene where Miss J.Dench and her little dog interpose their bodies between a group of German soldiers and an historic building they are about to rase to the ground and manage to deter them until such time as they are forced to withdraw by the advancing Allies is the stuff of fiction.At least the mutt has the grace to look shamefaced at being party to such a nonsense. If it did in fact occur,the Allied High Command should have parachuted her into Berlin in 1939 and saved themselves a lot of subsequent grief.

Another masterpiece from Franco Zefferelli (also the man behind "Romeo and Juliet"), "Tea with Mussolini" portrays several English and American expatriate women raising an Italian boy in 1930's Florence. Always ready to reject authority, these women know how to live. It's another great tale of civil disobedience at a time when it seemed impossible if not dangerous. Cher, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and Lily Tomlin all do great jobs with the roles. It's weird to imagine Cher in such a role; I've always thought that she was kind of worthless. But even she does really well here. A splendid movie for all times. Definitely see it.